This is awesome...

If you've been keeping up with C's progress at his new school, you will understand...


We've pretty much had these for the last two weeks...


We have had AWESOME drops offs for three days straight, AND the last two days he's received a good report. The teachers told me he had a GREAT day yesterday. I just about did my happy dance in the middle of the school! I'm feeling like we're going to get a good report today too. That will make three days in a row!!! We might just be over that transition hump... WHOOP!!!

Progress!!!

Whoo Hoo!!!

Two days in a row of NO TEARS at the door!!! AND.... Carson did NOT get a nasty-gram yesterday!!! WHOOP!!! They said he did SO much better!

Mommy took a totally different approach to the drop-off and it clearly paid off!!! Previously, I had been trying to let him walk in on his own, which they generally encourage but was a huge FAIL for us or pretty much just handing him over and leaving. That's what we did at his old school and he was fine. This time though, I held him at the door and we watched and talked about all the kids having fun and playing. When he acted interested, I went in with him for a few minutes and we talked, played, and shared toys with the other kids. After he felt comfortable, I stepped out. I guess he may just need a little hand-holding for a while. Today, they were all playing with little farm animals (score!), so it was really easy to get Carson interested. All the kids were bringing him their animals and sharing. We found a cow (score!) which he loved. All the kids were huddled around us and he seemed to enjoy being the {positive} center of attention. He ran to show his teacher his cow, turned to me and said "bye", and then just kept on playing!

Prayers that today is another good day...

I e-mailed the director about what was going on and I think she totally hit the nail on the head. Here's a little excerpt from our conversation...

"I am so sorry that this has been a stressful transition. I do know that the number of children in the class with Carson is very different from his prior school experience. This is a larger group than he is used to, but I believe that the most significant change that you mentioned is the "age" of the class. I think that Carson has come from a 12-18 month old classroom and into an 18 month-2 year old classroom. The children in this classroom have grown together from the beginning of the school year until now. Many of them not talking at the beginning of their experience; and now majority of the children are very verbal, communicating with each other in complete sentences. The communication between children is probably very new to Carson. In a 12-18 month old classroom, I can imagine that Carson is more used to teacher/child interaction and parallel play with the children around him. In our 18 month - 2 year classroom, the teachers are interactive with the children, but the children are also very interactive with each other. The class has developed from parallel play to very interactive play.

Both factors may contribute to his slight "insecurity" with his new class... In general, the children in the class are very playful with each other and very caring toward each other. I feel that Carson will continue to observe these larger, more "mature" group behaviors and learn to feel more comfortable with the children [by more mature, I simply mean more experienced in this environment and a little older. I am not referring to intellectual maturity, more emotional maturity]...."

I did watch me a little Supernanny during breakfast this morning though just in case... :-)

More Fun at the Park!

Did I mention, Carson LOVES going to the park??? Mommy does too...when you work from home you like anything that gets you out of the house!!! Plus, I just love to watch him play and see his sweet little face get excited!

Feeding the ducks...

Duck or goose eggs under the slide...


Sliding is FUN!

Fun at the Park

We have a great city park in Nederland. Carson loves to go feed the ducks (and turtles and fish) and they just redid the playground and swings. With this beautiful weather, I just couldn't pass up taking him yesterday afternoon after school. With the report card we got yesterday, I figured he needed to blow off some steam (and Mommy needed to do something relaxing too). Insert Sad Face Here.




He played nicely along side the other kids and loved the wheels/gears he could turn himself on one of the playgrounds. He loved climbing up the slanted rock wall and going down the slide. He also had fun swinging. Since, out of nowhere, he decided to only sleep 40 minutes (versus 2 hours) at school, we called it a night early. He was out without a peep at 7:15. I'm thinking the park after school is in our future until it gets too hot.

MOM-MEEEE!!!

We are WAY past the "MaMa" stage these days...I think Carson's favorite word is "MOM-MEEEEE"....is says it LOUD, PROUD, and OFTEN!!! I have to say, I don't mind one bit!

Love my sweet little munchie...wish he was being that sweet at school. Nope, still getting the "nasty-grams".

Workin' on His Fitness...

Make Ya Smile Monday: Hy-eeee!!!

FRIDAY NIGHT FUN...

"HY-EEEE"... that's how Carson says "high"....


And for the closeup...


Think he's having fun?!?!

Begging Daddy to go "HY-EEEE" again


Okay, a little bit more...


Okay, Daddy's arms are killing him...


Love those BLUES!!!


Happy Boy!


Being Silly with Daddy



He sees EVERY plane in the sky...


Endless entertainment...

School Update - Week 2

Looks like we've digressed....

With one exception (only because we got there right when a group of kiddos were filing in from the big room to his room and I was able to get him line and sneak out), there were tears every morning. Some days is was a whimper and little tears and other days (like today and yesterday), it was laying on the floor and screaming. I know nothing bad is going on because he's always happy and fine when I pick him up, and when I say it's time to go to school in the morning, he's running out the door. It's just that last moment right when he knows I'm leaving that it's bad. It's not that he doesn't want to go to school, it's that he wants me to come with him.

We also go another "nasty-gram" as I like to call them.... "Carson was hitting and pushing his friends today." What drives me CRAZY is that is NOT my kid!!! He is SO sweet and has never been aggressive. I guess it's probably a combination of being in a new place with new people and possibly feeling threatened. He IS the youngest one in his class (not size-wise though). I guess those are just other kids... they aren't really his friends yet. Same with the teachers... they are just other adults, not someone who he has developed a relationship with yet. I've put him with strangers all day.

It breaks my heart to see him crying in the morning. It also breaks my heart that he might be the "bad kid." I've talked to plenty of other moms who have had kids go through hitting phases or have kids that get in trouble a lot in school, so I know we're not the only ones. I feel like he kind of has an excuse for a little while (not that it's okay, but at least that's how I rationalize it). There's really nothing I can do either. He doesn't hit people when he's with us. If he does, it's usually him just playing, but he still gets punished. I tell him in the morning to be nice to his friends and not hit, but does a 20-month old really get that? Probably not. At least he's not biting (yet). He actually got bit yesterday AFTER he hit someone... guess he deserved it. He got bit a few times at his last school...why do kids do that???

It took him two weeks of crying at his first school before he was okay. It's been two weeks here and he's still crying. I think his age has a lot to do with it. He was just 13 months when he started at his old school and I can tell he is SO much more aware of everything now, so I figured this transition would be harder.

Oh well, we'll just keep on praying....hopefully Week 3 is better.

20 Months!!!

Again, same first line as every new monthly update... How is it possible my little baby is 20 months?!?! He's almost 2... crazy!

Our little man is just that...becoming so independent and seems so grown up sometimes. He keeps us BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! He never slows down unless he doesn't feel good (which we had quite a bit of this past month between a MAJOR strep episode that kept him home for a WEEK and getting into teething for the last time with those 2-year molars.)

-He is trying SO HARD to talk and seems to have made a lot of progress this month. He's not where all those {dang} baby/toddler e-mails I get say he "should" be, but I'm not worrying about it. He "talks" constantly in his own language and knows what everything is. He fully comprehends us when we talk to him. I'm considering having him evaluated by a speech therapist, not because I'm worried, but more just to be proactive IF there is something we could be doing. He drools PROFUSELY (and I KNOW it's more than just teething). He's the only kid in his class at either school that HAD to wear a bib every day and just soaked through it. I've noticed he doesn't close his mouth often to swallow. Seems like he only swallows when eating. I've switched over to only straw cups because I read that a lot of the drooling may have to do with low muscle tone in his face. Even after a couple weeks, it seems a little better, so I'm hoping this helps.

-His favorite words (in no particular order) are Momma, DaDa, bug, "bad bug", baby (so sweet when he says it), choo choo (accompanied with hand motion), BYE BYE (he LOVES saying bye bye), high (in the context of high/low, not "Hi"... this has to do with throwing balls up in the air), dog, duck, book, ball (he's really got the "L" part down compared to last month), bird, "no no no", "no dog", "night night." He's also said Nana and Papi. Just in the last few days, he's been good at copying us. The most proud moment was when I asked him if he wanted to read his Bible, and he pointed at it and said (spelled phonetically) "Bye-Bul." Melt.

-He signs "more", "all done", and "thank you." He hasn't quite gotten "please" figured out. These are really the only ones we've taught him.

-99% of the time he is happy as can be and SO affectionate. He loves to give me kisses and hugs and is a great snuggler. Apparently this hasn't been the case at the new school. I think the adjustment has been pretty hard on him.

-He is SO silly and thinks we are his own personal jungle gym and LOVES crawling all over us on the bed and couch.

-He LOVES to be outside and play with all this balls and is really good at making "slam dunks" on his little basketball goal. He loves that thing!

-Thomas the Train is his FAVORITE. Hands down. Thank goodness because Mommy and Daddy were SO over Yo Gabba Gabba. He loves his Rockin' Elmo.

-He LOVES to dance and immediately starts at home or in the car as soon as music comes on.

-He puts his hands together when we pray.

-He rarely fights bedtime and actually likes to tell us when it's "night night" time. Sleeps like a champ at night (minus last night... don't know what that was all about!) and we've actually had to start waking him up for school. Sleeps usually from 7/7:30 to 7:00. Been napping pretty well at school from 11:30 to 1:00/1:30 on a good day. At home on the weekends, it's usually about 1.5 - 2.0 hours.

-Has started taking his ear plugs out during bath time. Not good.

-Loves to color and occasionally eat crayons.

-LOVES going to the nursery at church.

-Generally is an AMAZING eater. Loves meat and a lot of veggies. He randomly surprised me last week and actually ate a banana. He loved bananas as baby food, but would never eat one sliced up until last week. He loves dried fruits. Still a huge fan of Nilla wafers (the fake HEB brand ones are soft and amazing). Huge breakfast eater. This kid could eat a whole plate of just eggs.

-Loves to make animal sounds. Monkey, elephant, dog, cow, and ducks are his favorite.

-Figured out how to crank the Curious George jack-in-the-box and LOVES doing it. It takes a long time to finally pop it open, but he has patience (not inherited from me) and then gets so excited when the monkey pops out. As soon as he does, he starts making monkey sounds.

-Is the master of the iPad. We've had to minimize how much he plays with it because he started getting mean when you'd take it away. He know were all his apps are and how to get to his favorite animal sounds (cow and dog) and shape puzzles (the transportation one).

-LOVES all things transportation...motorcycles, trucks, trains, airplanes, helicopters, etc.

Sitting on the couch with the sock monkey are no longer an option, so here's our best crack at a picture...








We love you, Munchie!!!

This Made Me Melt...

He first said it in his room, and I was so blown away that we had to come show Daddy! Remember, this is a kid that doesn't say a lot of words that anyone other than us could understand.

Precious...

Nederland Heritage Festival

This past week was the Nederland Heritage Festival. It's a REALLY big deal around here and I was really looking forward to taking Carson this year.

Here's our little "Main Street", aka Boston Avenue. There are a bunch of really cute shops, and the festival is held on one end down near the city hall, etc. You probably can't see it in this pic, but there's a Ferris wheel down at the other end.



Mommy wanted to go check it out one night after we had his haircut at the old Barber shop...

We loved our punching balloon...



...and had fun at the petting zoo (for a while). So much for trying to take any good pics with one hand...









It literally was a ZOO in there with all the kids and animals running around. After about 10 minutes, he was over it. He was happy after we got him another punching balloon. Can you believe someone took ours?!? I tied it off outside and it was gone when we came out!



We attempted to go as a family on Friday night, but Carson was NOT himself. He was flushed when we picked him up from school, but I thought he was just hot from playing outside. He was not interested in the rides or petting zoo. We tried to go on the tractors and he just sat there.

Mommies don't fit real well...




Trying to add some enthusiasm...



He could have cared less about the animals this go round.


We packed it up pretty quickly, knowing he probably didn't feel well. He was still warm and it turned out he did have a fever when we got home. It ended up being a long weekend. Pretty sure those 2-year molars are on their way.

Maybe next year, Nederland Heritage Festival!